Citi Marks Live Transactions Using Swift’s Blockchain-Based Ledger

Citi has achieved a major milestone in its push for always-on, cross-currency and interoperable payment solutions by successfully processing live transactions on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. Announced on Thursday, this is the first time an American bank has conducted these transactions in collaboration with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).

Debopama Sen, Citi's head of payments, emphasized that this pilot project signifies a crucial step in exploring how shared ledger technology can create a more efficient, interoperable, and always-on global financial system. The transactions, which were the first in the Middle East region with FAB and the first in Southeast Asia with OCBC, demonstrate the potential of distributed ledger technology to provide payments and settlements outside the constraints of traditional cut-off times and weekend closures.

Citi plans to conduct more similar transactions later this month with partners including DBS and United Overseas Bank, as part of its "focused, controlled proof-of-concept phase" slated to conclude in December. PYMNTS noted that while tokenization may not create liquidity from scratch, it can make settlement programmable and reduce settlement and counterparty risk by eliminating the period between asset delivery and payment receipt.